On The Road Again, Finally

We had several days, actually weeks, to get our motorhome ready for our 1200-mile trip from Nacogdoches, TX to Cottonwood, AZ but, as usual, we kept putting it off. We didn’t start packing until the day we were leaving (3/19/15). I ran a perfunctory check of the motorhome to make sure all systems were go but we were still taking a big chance because it had been sitting in storage for months. It seemed that our biggest problem was that our state inspection sticker had expired six months previously. No problem, we could stop on the way out of town and get it inspected. It should only take about 15 minutes max.

We captured three of our cats, crated them, and took them out to the motorhome and were finally ready to leave. We pulled away from the house about 2:00 PM and headed for the inspection station. The 15 minutes turned into about two hours because they were so busy. When they finally got to me, the mechanic didn’t even bother to look at the motorhome. He simply issued the new sticker, probably because by then the heavens had opened and a hard rain was falling.

Before leaving the inspection station we began hooking up our car. That’s when I discovered that the air hose connecting the car brakes to the motorhome brakes was missing from the front of the car. A couple of weeks ago the car’s front bumper had been replaced and the air hose connection had not been remounted. We hurried to the body shop in hopes they could correct the oversight before they closed. We made it and they fished around behind the grill, located the air hose, and remounted it under the front bumper. At 4:30 PM we were finally on the road. Only 1200 miles to go!

We stopped for the night at a Pilot truck stop around 6:00 PM and sandwiched ourselves between two 18-wheelers with about two feet of clearance on each side. We had made it as far as Tyler, TX, only 88 miles from our starting point. Quite a first day!

On Thursday morning 3/20/15, after a noisy night in the truck stop, we were not fueled and on the road until almost 10:30 AM. Our goal for the day was Amarillo and the Oasis RV Park up in the Panhandle. For the first 200 miles we drove in and out (mostly in) of heavy rain and were delayed by two accidents and road construction near Fort Worth. We stopped in a rest area around 2:00 PM and had lunch. We were behind schedule (as usual), which meant a late arrival in Amarillo. We were further delayed as we were not on the interstate any longer and had to slow down through the many small towns along the route. One of these towns was Quanah, TX, which I made fun of in my blog a couple of years ago and was severely scolded in a comment by one of its residents. As we entered the town I saw the sign that inspired me to mention it in my blog back then. The sign read, “Puka Lives Here.” I won’t say anything else, as I don’t wish to be scolded again. You can check my post of August 19, 2012 if interested.

At 5:30 that afternoon we were still at least two hours, perhaps two and a half, from the Oasis RV Park so we stopped where we have stopped before when unable to make Amarillo before dark. It was the Cotton Gin Old Towne RV Park in Goodlett, TX, a place that may be hard to find on a map, as there is only an old cotton gin and the rv park. It wasn’t the Oasis RV Park but was still somewhat of an oasis in the rather desolate panhandle of Texas. When we pulled into the park we had traveled a total of 416 miles from Nacogdoches. Not very impressive for what should have been two days of driving.

At 9:05 AM on Saturday we left Goodlett intent on making up some time. We pulled into the New Mexico welcome center on I-40 for lunch a little before 1:00 PM. We were 205 miles closer to Cottonwood. We were back on the road after lunch with intentions to make it all the way to Gallup, NM before stopping and parking in a Walmart parking lot for the night. Driving was somewhat tedious because of the huge number of 18-wheelers. I was leap-frogging from convoy to convoy. I would settle in with a group until it began to slow down and I would move on ahead to the next group. Every time I passed another vehicle I would have to use my passenger-side mirror to judge the distance and pull back in without the car we were towing being too close to the vehicle we were passing. Each time it seemed I had to readjust the mirror (remote control thank goodness) in order to see properly. It finally got to the point that I could not adjust it any longer and pulled into a rest area to investigate. I found the mirror was loose on the arm extending from the RV. The setscrews holding it in place had been stripped and the mirror was being turned by the wind. I knew immediately why the screws were stripped. While the motorhome had been in its covered storage parking our “neighbor” in the space next to us kept a rather large ski boat and trailer stored. The boat had some kind of aluminum “outriggers” (I don’t know what else to call them) attached to the sides of the boat. I assume they had something to do with pulling skiers. Unfortunately, the guy wasn’t very good when it came to towing his boat. Several times, as he was pulling it out of his storage space, one of the “outriggers” would hit the side mirror of my motorhome, pushing it out of adjustment. I would reposition it, complain to the manager, and leave a nasty note on the boat (I never saw anyone with the boat). This happened three or four times (I’m too kind hearted) before I sent a letter to the storage company owner to inform them that I would hold them responsible for any damage done if they continued to allow the boat owner to hit my mirror. I also threatened to call the police and report it as vandalism. In the end, I was moved to a new space and nothing more done. After these several months I now knew that damage had indeed been done. For the moment all I could do was get out my Gorilla Tape and wrap the mirror housing and arm in it to keep it from moving.

I was still determined to make Gallup, mirror, or no mirror. Fortunately, the tape held. I began following an 18-wheel flatbed trailer that was carrying what appeared to be large metal boxes. After following it for some time I became curious and began inching up closer in an attempt to see what he was hauling. I was finally close enough to see a small circle that looked like a pie cut in six equal slices. The slices were alternating colors of orange and black. It was beginning to dawn on my what the symbol indicated when I read the small print next to it. “DANGER: RADIATION.” I quickly passed him and moved on up the road what I considered a safe distance!

We kept driving and made it to Gallup. We were both very tired when we exited I-40 to find the Walmart. I managed to miss it and had to find a place to turn around. The motorhome with car attached is a total length of approximately fifty-four feet. It doesn’t turn on a dime. In the end I had to block a four-lane highway to make a U-turn. I pulled into a Home Depot parking lot because we could see a Walmart sign in the distance but did not know how to get to it. I got out of the RV, approached a man, pointed at the Walmart sign, and asked how to get there. He seemed a bit confused and wasn’t making much sense to me. Finally, he pointed to the building adjacent to Home Depot and said, “That brown building right there is Walmart!” Feeling like an idiot we crossed the Home Depot lot into the Walmart lot and parked for the night. It was 7:00 PM and we had driven a total of 977 miles, 561 of them in ten hours of driving that day.

Sunday morning (3/22/15) we were in no hurry. We only had another 252 miles to go and weren’t expected until around 3:30 in the afternoon. We left at either 10:15 or 9:15 AM (we weren’t sure because we didn’t know what time zone we were in). For many miles across Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and on to the coast I presume, I-40 parallels the old historic Route 66. It was not unusual to spot old buildings that were once thriving businesses before I-40 took away the traffic from Route 66. One such building was an old RV park, its faded sign identifying it as, “Root [sic] 66 RV Park.”

When we crossed into Arizona we stopped at the state’s welcome center for an Arizona road map and some brochures of attractions in the Sedona-Cottonwood area. The place looked busy and the parking lot was almost full. We parked and walked over to the welcome center’s entrance and discovered the door was locked. A sign on the door read, “OPEN MONDAY – FRIDAY, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM.” It was Sunday. The state’s welcome centers are not open on weekends when most tourists are traveling? Very strange. There were some maps in a box beside the door so it wasn’t a total bust.

We left I-40 at Flagstaff and headed south on I-17, past Sedona, and got off at the Verde Valley exit. The RV park was another 15 miles or so. We were using the GPS on Carol Ann’s phone and were told to make a right turn on East Thousand Trails Drive (location of the Thousand Trails RV Park). We made the turn but realized the road sign just read, “Thousand Trails Drive,” without the “East.” There were no RV Park signs either. Nothing to lead us to believe this was the correct road. We decided to get back on the highway and drive a little further, hoping to find East Thousand Trails Drive. A few miles later we discovered that Carol Ann’s phone battery was dead and the map was no help. We turned around, went back, and turned on the Thousand Trails Drive without the East and it turned out to be correct. After 1228 total miles and 21 hours and 59 minutes of driving time we had made it. In two weeks we have to turn around and do it again, in reverse.

Tires, Puha, and Crosses

 
This morning, before we left Wichita Falls, I managed to remove the Crossfire pressure equalization device from my driver-side rear duals.  The outside dual was in good shape, no loss of air pressure.  However, the inside dual was down to 45 PSI (less than half what it should be) so I got out my compressor and after adding a valve extension onto the stem so that the air nozzle could reach it, began adding air to the tire.  I kept checking the pressure at frequent intervals, but the pressure was not increasing in the tire, which is BAD news.  The compressor and the pressure gauge were both working properly (I tested them on another tire).  I thought the trouble might be with the Dill valve in the tire stem.  I have a tool for adjusting Dill valves and I adjusted it from all the way in to almost all the way out, but still no joy.  Sunday morning in a small Texas town is not a good time to need tire service.  I decided to add extra air to the outside dual and proceed to Amarillo instead of Tucumcari, NM.

We left the Wichita Falls RV park at 10 AM with the temperature a very pleasant 70°.  As we drove through Quanah, one of the many small towns along the route, I noticed a sign that read “Quanah, Home of Puha.”  Puha?  I had no idea what it could be so I asked Carol Ann to write it down so I could Google it later.

Closer to Amarillo we drove through another small town.  This one was Clarendon and I saw a sign as we entered the town that read something to the effect "Welcome to Quanah.  The town that believes in the Cross and the Crucifixion of Jesus.”  Okay.  This was another town I would need to Google!  As we drove through the small town I noticed many of the local businesses sporting signs praising Jesus and quoting scripture.  Some of the signs said that the end was coming and if I didn’t repent I would spend eternity in hellfire and damnation.  Then I noticed a cross on almost every street corner that we drove past.  These crosses were all made of white PVC pipe and stood about 6 or 8 feet tall.  I also noticed what seemed to be an awful (no pun intended) lot of churches for such a small town.

We continued on, eventually reaching Amarillo and I-40.  We drove through Amarillo and at the westernmost edge of town we drove past Cadillac Ranch.  This is a public art installation (is it really art?) that was created for a local Amarillo billionaire, Stanley Marsh III, in 1974 by a group of California (that may explain it) artists who called themselves The Ant Farm.   It seems that Stanley wanted something that would puzzle the locals so the hippies came up with the idea of creating a tribute to the evolution of the Cadillac tail fin (why not?).   They drove 10 old Cadillacs, from a 1949 Club Sedan to a 1963 Sedan de Ville, out into one of Stanley’s fields and buried them about half way, standing on their grills with their tail fins in the air, and in a line facing west at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza.  Go figure.  I’m sure than Stanley was pleased with himself.

Just beyond Cadillac Ranch we reached Oasis RV Park, a very nice park in which we have stayed in the past.  We pulled in at 3:30 PM with the temperature at 79°.  We had added another 238 miles and 4 hours and 45 minutes to the trip.  We slowed down today (average speed 50 mph) but gained only 0.1 mpg (from 6.9 mpg yesterday to 7 mpg today).  It’s almost not worth slowing down.

After a nap and supper I got out my laptop and began to Google.  First I searched for “Puha”.  I discovered that the Texas Panhandle was once part of Comanche Indian territory, which they called Comancheria.  “Puha”, as it turns out, is a word from the Comanche language and has several different meanings.  It does not mean “Pick Up and Haul Ass”, a translation attributed to a group of EMTs.  Instead, it means something like personal or medicine power or war honors, which I believe may be similar to the Jewish "Chutzpah."  “Puha” was acquired through a vision quest (this probably had something to do with Peyote).  If you had a lot of “Puha” you could be chief, or “parabio” as the Comanche called it.

The Quanah High School football team’s name is the Fighting Indians and they like to yell “PUHA” at their football games.  I’m sure it must send quite a scare through the opposing team.

Next to be Googled was Clarendon, TX and its fascination with crosses and the end of time.  The town has a population of just a little more than 1,900 people yet has 13 churches.  According to the internet's Yellowpages.com there are 5 Baptist Churches in Clarendon, 4 of them have the word "Calvary" in their name.  Other denominations represented in Clarendon include Methodist, Jehovah's Witnesses, Assembly of God, and a few of whose denomination is unknown to me.  That's an average of less than 150 people per church.  How do they support all of those churches?  I saw no signs of great wealth in Clarendon.  So here is what I learned about Clarendon.  It was established in 1878 by a Methodist preacher, L.H. Carhart, as a “sobriety settlement” in contrast to the wild boom towns of the time.  It soon became know as “Saints Roost” by local cowboys. 

There is a Centennial Marker in Clarendon showing the four elements upon which the county (Donley) was founded – Ranching, Farming, Education, and Churches.

Mr. Jim Griffin, a local resident, has taken it upon himself to convince people to repent their sins and accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.  In this effort he has erected over 40 PVC crosses in and around Clarendon.

Next week, the Donley County Commissioners will consider a request from a group calling themselves the “Citizens of Donley County”.  In a letter to the County Commission, the group says “our history is being lost to the younger generations” and ask that a marker commemorating the Ten Commandments be placed on the lawn of the 1890 courthouse, to “honor the influence that the Bible and the Christian faith has had on our nation and our county.”

As my wife, Carol Ann, said as we drove through Clarendon, “I’ll bet there isn’t one Democrat in this whole town!”